Dear All
I have been meaning to ask this for ages and the new forum has inspired me to do so now!
Does anyone know of a mediation/spiritual development group/Reiki share group in Norwich?
I am currently studying at the University of East Anglia and feel that a little group support while at University would be of much use to me.
I look forward to hearing about any ideas you may have.
Love and Smiles 😀
Well, what a wonderful city to be studying in! I had a home in mid-Norfolk for about 30 years and have very fond memories of my time there - and I especially loved Norwich.
This is probably not the reply you expected, (and I'm sure others will provide more of what you're looking for) but I couldn't help sharing a bit about an amazing woman, Julian of Norwich. There's a [url]Julian Centre[/url] in Norwich, built next to the church where she lived in a cell.
Years ago, in a bookshop in Norfolk, I picked up a little book called Revelations of divine Love by Julian of Norwich as I was immediately attracted by the title. As I read her wonderful insights about the Motherhood of God, Love and how everything is good, and how all will be well, it all felt so familiar. Here is one passage that is so inspiring:
".....I saw that he is to us everything which is good and comforting for our help. He is our clothing, who wraps and enfolds us for love, embraces us and shelters us, surrounds us for his love, which is so tender that he may never desert us. And so in this sight I saw that he is everything which is good, as I understand.
In 1373 Julian of Norwich (not her real name) had a series of sixteen visions of being taught by the crucified Jesus on her death bed (which healed her). She became an anchoress in the church of St Julian (and took on its name) then wrote down (over 20 years) what she had seen, in a little book called The Revelations of divine Love (the first religious book written in English by a woman.) It had been hidden away during Henry the VIII's dissolution of the monasteries 200 years after it had been written. It was first published in 1670, but passed unnoticed, then reprinted in 1843 and it is said that Florence Nightingale took one with her to the Crimea, then it was published again in 1877 and then again in 1901 and since then, it has not been out of print.
The first translation (from her original 14thC English) was a bit dry, but then I found a wonderful little book, which just gripped me: "In search of Julian of Norwich" by Sheila Upjohn. If you're interested in looking into Julian, I would recommend this book. Here's a passage in the original Enlgish, with Sheila's translation below.
"And in þis he shewed me a lytil thyng þe quantite of a hasyl nott. lyeng in þe pawme of my hand as it had semed. and it was as rownde as eny ball. I loked þer upon wt þe eye of my vnderstondyng. and I þought what may þis be. and it was answered generally thus. It is all þat is made. I merueled howe it myght laste. for me þought it myght sodenly haue fall to nought for lytyllhed. & I was answered in my vnderstondyng. It lastyth & euer shall for god louyth it. and so hath all thyng his begynning by þe loue of god. In this lytyll thyng I sawe thre propertees. The fyrst is. þt god made it. þe secunde is þet god louyth it. & þe þrid is. þat god kepith it."
ch.V, Westminster MS.
And in this he showed me something small, no bigger than a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand, as it seemed to me, and it was round as a ball. I looked at it with the eye of my understanding and thought: What can this be? I was amazed that it would suddenly have fallen in to nothing. And I was answered in my understanding: It lasts and always will, because God loves it: and thus everything has being through the love of God."
I've mentioned Julian quite often in these pages, but here's a thread from some years ago:
[url]Divine Love is our Mother[/url]
Happy searching!
Love and peace,
Judy